War to End All Wars
by Katkid
Summary: This is it! The finale of my Armageddon series!
1. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, so please refrain from suing me for writing fan fiction.Thanks and enjoy!

War to End All Wars--1

The light suddenly dimmed, leaving the eleven former Digidestined in a city that went beyond imagination but was a reality.

The first thing that was noticed was the streets: they were gold.Not painted gold, actually _gold._And there were no cars.There were no vehicles of any kind.The sky was clearer than any of them could ever have imagined it could have been, showing that there was no pollution.There was absolutely no garbage anywhere.And the _buildings!_They were incredible!The windows weren't rice paper or glass, although at first glance that was what they had assumed the windows to be made of--glass.But they were later to learn that instead of glass, the windows were made of diamonds-- pure diamonds.The walls didn't look like the normal building at all.They looked as though they had been molded--no, _crafted _into incredibly elegant formations that reached toward the sky, though they appeared to be made of a type of metal.

"We've been waiting for you," a gentle, fluty, feminine voice said.It sounded as though it had been carried to them on a fresh spring breeze instead of merely spoken.When they turned to see who had spoken, they were in for an incredible surprise.

The woman was beautiful beyond belief, though she appeared to be a normal person.She had black hair that hung down against her back and very dark brown eyes.She wore a light blue blouse with sparkling stones scattered across the front, which appeared to be rhinestones, but were more likely rubies.Her blue jeans were slightly flared and also had rubies around the bottom hems.Perhaps it wasn't how she was dressed or her physical features that made her so attractive.She seemed to radiate a light from her body. She also appeared to be extremely excited.

"I knew you were the ones!I just knew it!" she cried.

"What's going on?" Taichi demanded."Who are you?"

The woman sighed and answered: "there is no possible way you could pronounce my real name.You can call me Corina, though.Oh, and welcome to Quewari, the city of angels."

"Are you an angel?" Sora inquired.

Corina nodded and replied: "everyone here is.Well, excluding all of you."

None of the newcomers had expected an angel to wear jeans.Their ideas of angels all went back to the white, flowing robes, the wings, the halos.At the most, they had thought maybe an angel would look like Angemon or Angewomon.But they had never expected an angel to wear jeans.

"And what did was meant when we were told we 'passed the test?'" Koushiro questioned.

Corina smiled happily and replied: "well…I'm assuming one of our messengers told you of the war between Dark and Light, correct?"

Eleven heads simultaneously nodded.

"That's good.It'll make an explanation much easier.The messenger didn't have time to tell you of the rumor, obviously, or else you would understand all about the test.You see, it was rumored that a certain group of people would come in contact with the Dark and survive.And not only that, they would find the gate to Quewari as well.It was also rumored that that same group of people would pass a series of tests, each to be rewarded with a crystal that would open the final gate to Quewari."

"So the ghost town…" Daisuke began.

"And the jaguar…" Mimi continued.

"And the psycho sprite…" Taichi added.

"And that smoke lady…" Sora related.

"And the hall of doors…" Hikari stated.

"And the dragon…" Koushiro said.

"And Miss Nellar…" Yamato picked up.

"And that hunter…" Miyako added.

"And those dogs…" Iori continued.

"And the ship…" Takeru related.

"And the mutant reptile," Jyou finished."They were all a test to see if we were the right people?"

Corina nodded.

"And uh, what would've happened if we _didn't _pass the test?" Daisuke wondered.

"You would have been returned to your normal lives with no memory of anything that involved Quewari or the Dark," Corina stated."Well, either that or you would've died of course," she added, shrugging nonchalantly as though the thought of death was no big deal.

"Oh…I see," Jyou muttered."So you just put us through a dangerous test with the chance we could get killed and kick back and watch so that you know if we can fight in some war that we'll probably end up dead in anyway?"

"No, no, no!It's not like that!You see, there was a less than one percent chance that any of you could have been killed.As I stated before, you most likely would return to your normal lives!You don't think we _want _to kill innocent people, do you?Leave that to the Dark."

"So now what?" Takeru queried.

"Now what _what?_" Corina replied, answering Takeru's question with a question of her own.

"Now what happens?I mean, we made it here, so now what do we do?"

"Oh.Well, you're going to be staying a night here and then I'll bring you before the Monarch tomorrow night.Everyone OK with that?"

Everyone nodded, half because they knew it would be best to trust Corina and half because they weren't entirely sure what a Monarch was.

"Great!Come on, I'll take you to your rooms."

Corina started down the golden streets, but stopped and muttered: "oh, I'll do it the easy way."

The next instant they were inside one of the buildings that defied imagination, standing outside a door with a gold number on it: 3A.

"How did you--" Koushiro began.

"You've never used teleportation?" 

"But that's impossible!It violates practically every law of physics!"

Corina shrugged and turned to the door."Sorry you'll have to share, so you all might be cramped," she apologized as she opened it.

After one look inside, Hikari assured: "no…I…don't think we'll have any problems."

"Oh, good!" Corina smiled as she turned to leave.

"Hey, wait!" Iori shouted after her.

Corina turned back to the group.

"What about dinner?I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but we've got to eat sometime."

"Why?"

Iori blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean why?"

"Why?" Corina again inquired.

"Well, we'll get hungry sooner or later," Yamato explained.

"Hun-gry?" Corina repeated.

Yamato almost felt like laughing.The young woman's face had the same enchanted look a young child took on when learning something incredible.Her eyes were brightly glinting and an eager smile was on her face.

"Hunger is where your stomach feels empty.You have to eat when that happens or you could starve to death," he explained.

"Starve?" Corina repeated, the smile fading."Death?"

"Starve is where you get so hungry you die," Jyou replied.

The smile was off Corina's face now.Her eyes drooped and glistened with a layer of tears.

"I didn't know there was such a thing," she said."We don't have to eat here.Sometimes we do it just for fun, but I've never been hungry before.That's so sad.I'll get plenty of food sent to you."

Corina turned, a troubled look in her eyes and disappeared.

"I didn't realize she didn't understand about hunger.I didn't know it would hurt her like that," Iori murmured."I almost wish I didn't say anything."

"Well, we can tell her not to worry next time we see her," Mimi suggested."I think we should go into the room now.I don't know what she was talking about.There's no way anybody could be cramped in there!"

The room was huge.It was larger than a Presidential Suite.It was like a small _mansion!Each bathroom had a spa.There were four sitting rooms, a library, sixteen bedrooms, all with two perfect beds, a hologram projector that served as a television, making the worlds it created in incredible 3-D…You name it, this house had it.And this was only an __apartment!_

~*~

True to her word, Corina sent plenty of food for them.In fact, she sent enough food to feed an army, the marines and the state of Texas.She also sent a short message: _here's the food.I hope it's enough.Please tell me if it isn't._

Somehow, it all managed to fit in the kitchen (though it really wasn't much of a surprise that the cupboards and refrigerator could hold far more than they looked like they could).

"Hmmm….I dunno….Do you think this is going to be enough food?" Jyou jokingly inquired.

"Well, I'm not sure.Between Taichi, Daisuke, Yamato and Takeru the rest of us might not have anything to eat," Hikari teased as she watched the four above mentioned chowing down on the food.

Takeru looked up at the mention of his name, swallowed his bite of pizza and replied: "hey, I don't eat _that much!" before cramming his sixth piece into his mouth whole._

This resulted in the other seven friends laughing long and hard before sitting down at the table and eating as well.

All agreed it was the best meal they'd had in a long time.

~*~

Night in Quewari was also amazing.The sky took on a deep aquamarine color, but never really darkened to a full black--yet somehow millions of sparkling stars were visible, winking down onto the city.Maybe the oddest thing about the night sky was that there were three moons, one the normal whitish-yellowish color, one a delicate sea-green color and the final an odd color that appeared to be both silver _and gold at the same time._

Mimi thought it was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen._Like something you would put on a postcard, she thought, gazing out the window of her bedroom at the incredible sky._

She felt as though she would be able to just look at that sky forever and never grow tired of it.It was so vast she would always be seeing something new and incredible for all eternity.

It was with reluctance that she let the white curtain drop, blocking her view of the sky.Of course the sky had been something to see, but it went unparalleled to the grandeur of her own bedroom.

Besides the previously mentioned holographic television and perfect beds, there was something else that interested Mimi immensely.The closet was huge!And it was full of clothes--all in her size!There had to be enough clothes and shoes in there to wear a completely different outfit every single day of the year (never wearing the same shirt or pants twice) for a decade!Heck, it would _take a decade to walk through the whole thing on foot!_

Of course she wanted to try some of the clothes on, but she curbed the desire and lay down in one of the beds before closing her eyes.

_I can't believe we finally made it…._

_ _

_ _

~*~

Daisuke yawned heavily._I didn't mean to stay up this long, he thought as he snapped off the holographic television set.__Then again, I didn't expect them to have about 200 sports channels, either!_

There were specific channels for football, soccer, baseball, basketball and every other sport you could imagine.Plus there were many channels that covered sports Daisuke had never even heard of--let alone seen--that appeared impossible, yet were very much possible, as demonstrated by the athletes onscreen.

He wished he could try a couple of those new sports, but at the same time realized that wasn't the reason they had come to Quewari.They had come to Quewari to fight a war, not play games, and that was what they were going to do.

He yawned again and closed his eyes, thinking: _hope I won't be too tired in the morning.Within seconds, he was peacefully sleeping._

~*~

"Hey, what's the fountain for?" Miyako inquired of Corina the next morning.

The eleven former Digidestined and the angel were outside a building that was enormous, the walls of which appeared to be crafted out of clouded crystal to prevent anyone from outside seeing in.It had a scalloped roof, fashioned out of more of the crystal and the windows were also made of diamond, though this diamond was tinted the faintest shade of blue.

Corina had looked rather anxious and sighed with relief when the door was opened when she knocked only minutes ago.Upon being questioned why she seemed so happy to see them, she replied: "I wasn't sure if I sent enough food.I really didn't want you all to starve."After several assurances that there had been plenty of food, she had teleported them to this castle-like place.

Miyako was pointing to a gigantic fountain.Its many spouts appeared to be crafted out of gold and silvery water was continually flowing from them into a swimming pool sized basin at its bottom.

"Oh, that's the Fountain of Youth," Corina replied.She sounded as though she were only telling somebody the time of day.

Miyako nodded, dismissing it for the moment before she realized what Corina had said._I guess it shouldn't surprise me, she thought._

"Come on, the Monarch doesn't like to be kept waiting," Corina stated."And he's been doing that for a few millennia."

She led them through a set of heavy doors that were made of opal and into the castle.Sora looked all around as she followed Corina through its halls, wishing she could stop and look at some of the sculptures that lined each side of the hall more closely.She noticed they all were made out of some type of precious metal or gem, though it didn't surprise her all that much.

After walking down a complicated series of halls, they came to a set of doors made of emeralds and blue diamonds with a pattern cut into them.

"Now don't be nervous.You'll do just fine," Corina said as she pushed open the doors.

A voice came from inside the room: "ah, so you are here at last!Come in, come in!"

Slowly, the eleven people walked inside.Corina followed and closed the doors after her.The Monarch rose from his chair that was fashioned of every single type of gem known to man and slowly approached them.

_If he's been waiting for millenniums, he looks pretty young, Hikari thought.Young was an understatement.He wore jeans, as did Corina, but his did not have gems in them.His shirt matched his jeans and was also void of any gems, but to make up for the lack of gems on his clothes was a small blue diamond embedded in his face, near his left eye.Other than the diamond, he appeared to be a normal man._

The Monarch circled the group of former Digidestined, taking in their every trait before stepping back, sighing and stating: "I'm sorry.You aren't the ones."

Corina groaned in disappointment and replied: "and I was so sure _they were the ones!"_

The eleven adults could hardly believe it.After all they had been through, this man says they were wrong and it's all over?

Yamato frowned and angrily questioned: "do you know what we've _been through to get here?"_

A faint smile played on the Monarch's face and he said: "no.Not entirely.Relate your adventures to me, pray tell."

"We were attacked by the Dark," Yamato began.

"Three times," Koushiro chimed in.

"We were split up, we faced your crazy test that almost ended in all of us dead," Yamato continued.

"I beat an insane sprite!" Taichi burst out."Doesn't that _mean anything to you?!?"_

The other ten people in the group fell silent and looked at Taichi and he timidly defended: "well, I _did."_

"We got the crystals because we passed the test," Mimi continued, holding in laughter._Taichi versus a sprite.This I've gotta hear about…, she thought._

"I found my way through that stupid maze," Sora added.

"Yeah, and I found my friends in the hall of doors," Hikari said.

"And we all made it through the gate," Jyou broke in.

"Do you think we would've done it all if we knew you were going to just say 'nope, go home?'" Miyako angrily inquired.

"And finally," Yamato finished, "we got here so you could take one look at us and tell us 'oops, we screwed up.'Well, lemme tell you something!I'm not going to take it!"

The corners of the Monarch's lips were now turned upward in a barely suppressed smile."And what are you going to do?"

"There are eleven of us…" Daisuke started.

"And one of you," Iori finished.

"I don't think your odds are all that great," Takeru added.

The Monarch finally allowed his smile to break through as he said: "that's all I need to hear.Congratulations.You are the ones."

"Excuse me?" Jyou reacted.

"You're the ones."

"But how--" Hikari wondered.

The Monarch sighed and began: "I suppose I should explain.You see, there was a part of the rumor that Corina could not tell you.In addition to passing the test, the chosen ones would also have to stand up to me.You're the first group that's come through here that had the nerve to do that."

"You mean more people have gone through that test?" Miyako unbelievingly inquired.

The Monarch nodded."They made it through the hardest part, and might I add the pointless part, yet failed to fulfill the important part, the final deciding factor."

"Wait just one second," Koushiro broke in."Do you mean to say that the test in which we acquired crystals didn't mean anything?Do you mean all we really had to do was stand up to you?"

"Correct," the Monarch replied."At least, that's mostly correct.You see, the physical test was nothing more than something for us to determine your physical capabilities.It had little to do with determining if you were the correct people.

"I know I have not given you near the amount of information you would like to know, but it is safer that you know the smallest amount possible.Our soldiers will explain anything else you need to know.The army shall set out immediately and you shall accompany them.Goodbye.And good luck."

With those final words, Corina ushered them all out the door.Her face was literally glowing with excitement and ecstasy.

"I _knew you were the ones!I __knew it!" she happily cried."Sorry I had to deceive you earlier, but we had to be sure."_

"What do you mean 'deceive' us?" Takeru inquired.

"I had to act as though I knew nothing about humans.I had to act as though you were the ones undoubtedly and as though you were the first humans I had ever seen," Corina explained.

"Oh.Well, you did a good job of it," Mimi replied."And it was kind of funny when you sent all that food!"

Corina smiled even wider and she replied: "I'm glad it worked.And I'm truly happy you're the ones."After a brief pause, she added: "come on, I'll take you to the army.You have no idea how long they've been waiting for you guys to show up."

Seconds later, they were standing in another room in the castle via teleportation.It was the largest room any of them had ever seen and it was packed full of angels like Corina and the Monarch.

Corina took a deep breath and shouted only three words: "we found them!"

It took only those three words to send the relatively peaceful room into a flurry of excitement, all of the angels clamoring to get a look at the people they had waited for so long to show.

"Settle down!" a booming voice cried out.

A male angel stepped forward.He was large and bulky with sharp-cut muscles.If they hadn't been in the city of angels, the former Digidestined would have not thought this guy was an angel at all.He wore a pair of camouflage pants that were tucked into a pair of heavy army boots and a camouflage jacket over a white muscle shirt.His dark hair was slicked down neatly.He also had an emerald embedded into the back of his hand.

"That's the leader of the army," Corina quietly explained."He's not as harsh as he sounds.His name is…eh…well, you can call him Al."

"We've got our orders from the Monarch.It's finally time to battle the Dark and end this war!" Al shouted.

A collective cheer went up through the thousands of angels gathered in the room.

"Move out!" 

The angels began teleporting out of the room until only Al, Corina and the former Digidestined's remained.

"So you're the group we've been looking for," Al muttered."Come on, I'll take you to our camp."

"Oh, wait a sec!" Corina shouted.She reached behind her neck and undid the clasp on a small gold chain that hung around her neck before holding out a small feather that was made entirely of amethyst."Here, I want you guys to take this.For good luck," she said before handing it to the nearest person to her; Hikari."Goodbye."

And then in the next second the room and Corina disappeared.The place they ended up was…quite different from the castle they had been in less than a second ago.Trees that at one time had been large and full were charred and black, bent over and dying.The sky was filled with a thick, acrid smoke that discolored the sky to an ugly gray color.Besides the blackened trees, there was nothing to see.All plant life had been destroyed, either by some type of battle or the lingering effects of one.If the battle hadn't destroyed the plant life, the choking smoke did it.It was barren and ugly.

"Real cozy and happy, huh?" Al stated.

"Yeah…just great," Daisuke hesitatingly replied.

"And this isn't even the front.We're over 7,000 of your miles away from the actual battle."

That was definitely a wakeup call.Even when they were so far away from the fighting, the landscape was still utterly destroyed.It was scary.

Hikari found herself holding the amethyst feather so tightly her knuckles turned white.She put the small crystalline feather into her pocket, but still kept her hand in her pocket, keeping a finger on the feather at all times.It gave her a sense of safety, and almost of power.Her fingers seemed to tingle when she touched it and she could nearly feel energy surging into her body through her fingers from the feather.

She was startled when Al began talking: "well, I guess the Monarch didn't tell you much about this war.That's a good thing.What you do know about the enemy is nearly all you need know.But there's one final important thing about the Dark you must know.It may come as a shock to you, but the effects of our battle in this parallel dimension to your own are beginning to seep through into your dimension."

"Y-you mean all this that's happening here is starting to happen where we live?" Koushiro shakily inquired.

Al nodded."But don't worry too much about it.We're going to finally kick the Dark's rear end!"

"Why do you need us?" Sora inquired."What can we do?"

"That I'm not 100% sure about.All I know for sure is that you survived numerous encounters with the Dark.Normal humans can't do that.I am sorry you have to be dragged into this, but without your help we may never end this war.And I know that all of you are capable of defeating at least one demon apiece by yourselves, even if you have to struggle to do so.That too is a quality rarely found in humans.

"You should rest now.Tomorrow we make our attack to end this war and you're going to need every last bit of strength you can acquire."

The eleven adults agreed and were soon sleeping….

~*~

Taichi's eyes fluttered open.Sure, he was tired, but for some odd reason he couldn't sleep.A feeling in the pit of his stomach kept awakening him, keeping him awake.He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep.

But something was bothering him.Something was wrong.Something was badly wrong.He could feel it.A sense of foreboding was tugging at him, forcing his eyes to open.

Something wasn't right.And that was when it hit him: a black tornado was approaching.At least, that was what it appeared to be at first.But when he realized what it really was, it sent a chill down his spine.The tornado was composed of thousands of demons, banded together.It was close.Way too close.

Taichi sucked in his breath and felt sweat pooling on his face.He wanted to shout out, to scream that an attack was coming, but his voice wouldn't come to him.It felt as though his throat had had all the moisture sucked out of it.

He rolled onto his back and swallowed, trying to clear his throat so he could shout out a warning.His throat was like sandpaper and no sound would come out.This scared him.He'd never been the type to panic like this and here he was, so afraid he could only watch the black tornado approaching them.

Wind was beginning to whip his hair across his face and dirt was getting into his eyes and mouth.He coughed and very slowly sat up.The cyclone had to be less than a half-mile away by now and it was giving off more of the dark smoke that clogged the air.It was causing him to cough and choke.

And it was then he was finally able to cry out: "attack!" between a fit of hacking.The tornado had covered half the distance to them by this time and the smoke was stinging his eyes.

Immediately, the camp became a scene of chaos, though it was nearly invisible through the smoke.Al's voice cut through the air: "all groups, defensive!NOW!"

Angels were running by them, forming a long, narrow rectangle between the former Digidestined and the demons.

Jyou could hear snatches of what the other angels were saying: "there's so many of them!"

"We've got to hold them off!" 

The demons were upon them.Then: "what about the humans?"

"A and B groups!Take the humans and RETREAT!" Al's voice frantically called through the smoke.

"What's going on?" he heard Mimi sleepily mutter."Why are we--oh my God!"

Mimi's last remark was brought on by her seeing the tornado break through the last line of soldiers and blast straight toward them.Less than a second later, they were inside the vile cyclone, spinning in midair, out of control no matter what they did.

The demons were flying in quick circles to give off the illusion of a tornado, but inside their cylindrical formation was a huge hollow space where all eleven of the adults ended up.Iori found himself unable to open his eyes as the wind created from the demons circling him forced them closed.But it wasn't like it would do him much good if he opened them.It was horribly dark inside; the smoke was so thick it was difficult to breathe.The only thing that pieced the horrific darkness was an occasional crackle of red lightning that existed for only a millionth of a second.

Iori heard: "we can't find them, sir!It's got them!"

He wanted to cry out: "I'm here!Right here!" but his words were thrown back into his mouth by the wind.

Then he heard: "there's too many of them!We can't hold them off!"

In addition to the sounds of the angels shouting, he also heard the demons.Some were laughing quietly, others were whispering to each other.All he knew for certain was that it wasn't a very nice sound.He tried to force his eyes open to try and see what was happening, but they were practically glued shut.

And then there was a flash of bright silver light that cut through the tornado, scattering the demons in every direction and allowing Iori to open his eyes again.He was falling from fifty feet in the air toward the ground, the wind from inside the tornado no longer supporting him.

"There they are!" he heard an angel shout.

"Retreat!Now!" Al's voice was heard.

The wasteland disappeared quite suddenly.The first thing Iori saw of his new surroundings was green.A tremendous amount of green.He realized he was looking up into a canopy of bright green leaves formed by tropical palm trees.The grass underneath him was green and spongy.Quickly, he got up off of his back on the ground and looked at the rest of his surroundings.There was a lake so blue it looked like it had been painted directly ahead of him.A thin strip of sand lined it, like a small beach.

"You guys OK?"

Iori snapped his head toward the voice and saw that it was Al.He saw the rest of his friends getting to their feet and breathed a sigh of relief.All eleven of them nodded.

"I'm real sorry about that," Al apologized."I didn't expect them to attack us like that."

"Where are we?" Jyou wondered.

Al smiled and said: "one of the few places that's totally safe from the Dark.This is a tropical valley that demons can't live in."

"How is that possible?What do you mean 'can't live in?'" Koushiro questioned.

"There are some places demons just can't go.The reason for this is unexplainable.Anyways, this happens to be one of those places."

Iori furrowed his brow and curiously asked: "what saved us?"

"Huh?Oh, you must be talking about Paragon," Al replied, wrinkling his nose in disgust."He's a mystic and nobody's really sure which side he's on.Guess you could call him the Medium force, if that's how you want to put it.Pretty much fights on whichever side he feels like, which is a pity.If we could just keep him on our side, we would win for sure.It's a good thing he decided to side with us back there or we'd all be goners now."

Al paused a moment before his eyes lit up and he enthusiastically suggested: "hey, why don't a couple of you go and talk to him?You know, try and convince him to stay on our side?"

"Couldn't that be dangerous?" Yamato skeptically replied.

"No, he doesn't hurt humans.Sure, he's a little crazy, but he doesn't hurt humans.Besides, he lives in this valley."

Hikari stepped forward and offered: "I'll go."

"Yeah, me too," Takeru added.

One by one, all eleven of the former Digidestined offered to go.Al shook his head and replied: "Paragon hates crowds.He'd feel a lot more comfortable if only two people went.And since you two," (he jabbed his finger at Takeru and Hikari) "volunteered first, you can go."

"So where _exactly does he live?" Takeru questioned._

"Well…he doesn't always stay in the same place," Al explained."See, his house moves around.You'll find it, though."

Hikari and Takeru started toward the ring of trees and Al called after them: "one other thing!He likes to play around a lot.Just warning you, he might get on your nerves."

Sora watched the two disappear into the trees and thought: _good luck._


	2. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own 'em.

War to End all Wars--2

Days came and went as Takeru and Hikari searched for Paragon's house.But as the hours dragged by, they found no trace of the mystic anywhere.Though neither of the two feared an attack, they were both beginning to get a little burnt out about the mission.

_I don't see how we can find a house that's always moving around, Hikari thought.__But I don't want to quit if Takeru wants to keep going.I'll be quiet about it, I guess._

_ _

_At the same time, Takeru was thinking: __This is ridiculous.We're never going to find a house that keeps moving around.But Hikari probably will want to get the job done.I'll wait another day, but if we don't find it today, I'm going to tell her I want to stop._

The two of them had been walking along the path silently when Takeru, unable to stand the silence a moment longer, said: "Hikari?"

Hikari jumped, a little startled and muttered: "hmm?"

"Do you think we're ever going to find that house?"

"I don't know," she admitted."If you ask me, this whole thing is starting to seem pretty silly.I mean, who ever heard of a house that moves?"

They were silent again now, walking through the jungle-like forest.The forest on their right gave way to a steep hill that began just at the edge of the path.There were quiet…until Takeru suddenly cried out in surprise.

Hikari turned to her right--just in time to see Takeru lose his balance.Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion as Hikari ran to him and grabbed his hand to try and prevent him from falling.But she had not thought of how heavy Takeru was until she was pulled off her feet as well.

Both fell onto the hill and slid down, shouting in surprise and pain as rocks that protruded from the soil jabbed into them.At one point, Takeru made a grab for a fern that was rooted into the side of the hill and they stopped falling.

"What happened?" Hikari demanded of him, holding tightly to his hand.Although it was not a cliff they had fallen from, the ground was slippery and sharply sloped, preventing anybody from climbing it.

"I don't know," Takeru said, his arm now hugged tightly against the fern."It's like the ground turned into ice.I slipped and then you grabbed me and here we are."

"Takeru?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't let go," Hikari whispered.It was still a good thirty feet to the ground.The slide down wouldn't kill either of them, but it would hurt a good deal.

"Takeru?"

"What?"

"I-I'm scared now," Hikari whimpered.She put her free hand into the pocket that held the feather from Corina and held onto the small trinket tightly.

They had been hanging on the side of the hill for about ten minutes when Takeru suddenly stated: "I see smoke."

"Where?"

"At the bottom of the hill.It's--it's Paragon's house!"

Hikari twisted her head so she could see the bottom of the hill and saw a small cottage with smoke lazily drifting out of a chimney in its thatched roof.

"How are we going to get down there?" Hikari wondered."I don't want to fall again."

The words had no sooner left Hikari's mouth than Takeru felt the fern moving._It's coming out of the ground! He realized._

"I…don't think we'll have to worry about it much longer," Takeru said.

"Really? Why?"

Before he could reply, the fern came up out of the ground, their combined weight too much for it to stay rooted.They tumbled the last thirty feet down the hill and Takeru let go of the un-rooted fern, as the roots were scratching him.

They both landed at the bottom of the hill with a dull thud.Hikari groaned.Her entire body felt achy, but she got to her feet.Takeru also got to his feet.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I think so.I'll survive.Lets just get to Paragon's before it moves."

The two of them ran to the cottage and Hikari tapped on the door.They waited for a moment, but the door wasn't answered.She knocked again, a bit louder this time, but there was still no answer.

"Oh, this is just great.We finally find his house and he's not home," Takeru muttered."Now what?"

Hikari tried the doorknob and it yielded."We could wait inside," she suggested as the door swung open.

Takeru nodded and the two of the stepped inside.They had taken no more than two steps in when the door slammed closed behind them.

"I am getting so tired of doors slamming behind me," Hikari sighed, remembering her experience in the hall of doors.

The inside of the cottage contrasted sharply with the appearance of the outside.It looked more like a funhouse than a home.The walls all had enormous mirrors mounted on them, giving off the illusion that the room was much larger than it looked.Hikari took a step forward and a million mirror images of herself took a step forward as well.

"Creepy," she muttered.She stiffened when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.Only Takeru was behind her.

"What is it, Takeru?" she questioned.

"Looks like Paragon's house to me…." Takeru offered.

Hikari sighed and muttered: "never mind."After they had walked a few more feet into the house, another tap came.

"What do you want?" Hikari asked, turning back to Takeru again.

"What do you mean?"

She shrugged and they began walking forward, and once again Hikari felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Takeru, this is getting old," she sighed without turning around."Will you quit it already?"

"Stop what?"

Hikari sighed, irritated by Takeru's outright denial of tapping her on the shoulder, but began to walk forward.Before she had taken a step, another tap came.

"Stop it!" she shouted, finally losing her temper.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Takeru insisted.

"Real mature, Takeru.Tap me on the shoulder and deny it every time when you're the only one who could've done it."She gasped and muttered: "it isn't you.Somebody just did it again."

"Paragon!" Takeru cried, realization dawning on him.

The second the name was uttered, the lights went out, plunging the mirrored room into darkness.

"Great," he muttered."Got any idea where the light switch is?"

"Nope," Hikari replied.She squinted as though the act would help her see through the darkness, but of course it didn't."Here, hold onto my hand so we don't get separated."

Takeru felt in the dark for Hikari's hand and took it upon finding it._Where's the wall? He thought, feeling around with his free hand.His reach was met with nothing._

The two of them inched their way forward in the darkness until Hikari suddenly cried out: "ow!"

"What?"

"I ran into something!" Hikari explained."Hey, wait a sec.I think it's a ladder."

Takeru let go of Hikari's hand and reached in front of her.His fingers were met with cold, hard metal."I'll see if it's safe," he suggested.Before Hikari could reply he was already halfway up the ladder.

Hikari anxiously looked around her in the darkness until she heard Takeru's voice drift back down to her: "come on up, Hikari.It's OK."

She slowly climbed up the ladder and poked her head into the second floor of the house.Thankfully, light flooded the room, permitting both to see.The room was painted a gaudy orange color.The only actual features of the room were three different colored doors on one wall.One was purple with a fluorescent yellow roman numeral one on it, another was green with a red roman numeral two on it and the last was blue with a black roman numeral three on it.

A pre-recorded voice blared: "WELCOME to _Who's Door is it Anyway?Our two lucky contestants are Hikari Yagami and Takeru Takaishi!Let's give them a round of applause folks!"Recorded applause sounded and the voice continued: "the rules of today's game are simple: choose a door.Any door.Choose the correct one and you face Paragon!Choose the wrong and it's back to start for you! And now, contestants!Choose!Your!Door!"_

"For crying out loud," Takeru shouted."I know Al warned us about this type of thing, but this is _ridiculous!"_

"How about door 3?" Hikari suggested.

"Yeah, why not?Nothing to lose," Takeru muttered.He walked forward and put his hand on the doorknob.Slowly, he turned it, then he flung the door open wide.

A tall, gangly man stepped out of the room.He was dressed in everyday clothes and had bright green hair.His eyes matched his hair, with an inward glint that made it seem as though he was smiling all the time and he had unusually long, spidery fingers.

"So you found me," he said, a smile playing across his lips.

"We came here to talk to you, Paragon," Hikari gently said.

Paragon pulled his legs up so that he was sitting Indian-style in midair and placed his long fingers together before saying: "yes?"

"You know about the war, right?"

"Sure do.It's an interesting game, but it gets boring playing on one side for too long."

Takeru broke in: "that's what we wanted to talk to you about.See, it would be nice if you would choose a side and stick with it."

Paragon interrupted with: "here, pull up a chair."He pointed to the ground behind Takeru and Hikari and two leaves sprouted from the ground.They looked inquisitively at Paragon and he said: "well, go ahead!".Hesitatingly, Takeru touched the leaves and pulled them up.An easy chair suddenly sprang out of the ground.Hikari did the same.They both sat down, barely able to believe that two easy chairs had just grown out of the ground, but stayed on business.

"Paragon, can you try to take this seriously?" Hikari gently inquired.

"OK, shoot," Paragon replied.

"Now, like I was saying before, we need you to choose a side," Takeru stated.

"A side of what?Beef?"

"Of the war."

"What war?"

Takeru was beginning to lose his temper."Weren't you listening to me earlier?"

"No."

"Paragon, please listen," Hikari said."We're talking about the war between the Dark and Light.Could you choose a side and stick with it, please?"

"Why should I care who wins?"

"Well…just think what'll happen to this valley if the Dark wins.It'll be destroyed first thing," Takeru said.He knew he was lying through his teeth, but maybe it would be the convincing factor in this debate.

"I-I'll just move," Paragon replied, voice faltering ever so slightly.

Takeru smiled, knowing he had struck a nerve."But you wouldn't be able to," he replied."But if the Light won, your house and you would be safe forever."

"So you're saying if I join with the Light the war'll be ended?" Paragon inquired, now very interested indeed.

"That's right," Hikari chimed in."That's all you've got to do."

Paragon nodded and said: "OK."

"Wait a second, how do we know you'll stay on our side?" Takeru demanded.

"Atlantean Vow," Paragon replied."Here, give the lead angel this," he added, handing Takeru a small scroll sealed with a half-moon design."He'll know what it means."

"Aren't you coming with us?"

Paragon sighed and muttered: "I suppose so.I'll teleport us to your temporary camp.I know where it is."

And then the house disappeared….

~*~

Miyako looked out over the waters of the blue lake.It was beautiful beyond belief and looked like one of the blue diamonds from Quewari.

_Takeru and Hikari have sure been gone a long time, she thought.__I hope they didn't have too much trouble finding Paragon's house._

Quite suddenly, Hikari, Takeru and somebody who Miyako assumed had to be Paragon appeared about five feet from the shore.The two humans were dumped unceremoniously into the water while the mystic hovered an inch or so away from the calm surface.

"Thank you so much, Paragon," Takeru muttered as he waded through the waist-high water."Next time do you think you could aim for the shore?"

Paragon shrugged and replied: "I said I'd take you back to camp.I never specified exactly _where we'd end up."_

"Well, thanks for bringing us back here," Hikari said as she stepped out of the water."Oh, hi Miyako.We found him."

Miyako blinked as she surveyed the mystic before shouting over her shoulder: "they're back!"

The other eight former Digidestined and Al hurried over Paragon and the soaking wet Hikari and Takeru.

"What happened to you guys?" Mimi asked."How'd you get all wet?"

Paragon smothered a laugh as Takeru explained: "Paragon teleported us here, but he thought it would be funny to drop us into the lake."He paused for a moment, then added: "Al, he wanted us to give you this," while handing Al the scroll.

Al took it and broke the seal before reading."Atlantean Vow, eh?Well, I guess that ensures you're on our side for good.Welcome."

"Atlantean Vow?What does that mean?" Taichi wondered.

"It's something I can't break," Paragon explained."It's the strongest type of promise I can possibly make.If I break it, I'll cease to exist."

"Tomorrow we make our attack on the Dark and hopefully push them back.We've got to regain the camp we lost earlier before we can continue.If we can do that, we'll be at an advantage," Al said."Victory is almost ours.I can almost taste it."

~*~

The rest of that day passed quickly.Around two, Paragon said he felt like taking a swim.His idea of swimming soon became the afternoon entertainment.

When he swam, he never actually touched the water.He skimmed just above the surface, making motions as though he was swimming in the water itself.It looked almost comical and the eleven former Digidestined all sat at the water's edge, watching interestedly.

At least, they watched until Paragon noticed them."Come on in, the water's fine!" he shouted.The next thing they knew they were in the water via teleportation.

"PARAGON!" all of them shouted, all trying to sound angry but doing a bad job of it, as they were at the same time concealing laughter.

Paragon glided by them and joked: "what's the matter?Got a little wet?"

Yamato smiled devilishly and caught Paragon by surprise when he reached up and pulled the mystic into the water.

"Hey!" Paragon shouted as he, too was drenched.

"You deserved it!" Takeru replied.

"Yeah!You got Takeru and me twice!" Hikari added.

Paragon indignantly floated up out of the water and shook some of the water off himself."You really shouldn't have done that," he loftily said.Then he smiled and added:"Because now I have to get you back!"

He motioned to the water behind the eleven people and it rose up in a wave, soaking all of them even more than they already were.

Daisuke retaliated by diving under the water so only part of his legs stuck out of the water and kicking, causing water to spew up and drench Paragon again.When he resurfaced, he was even wetter than before, but he was laughing, too.

Paragon tried to sound cross, but only ended up laughing when he said: "stop it!Now I've got to get even on you again!"

With that, he motioned to the water behind the eleven people, but this time directed it all at Daisuke, drenching him with a huge amount of water.

On the shore, one of the angels inquired to Al: "shouldn't we stop them, sir?They should be conserving their energy for tomorrow."

"Aw, let them have some fun.They've been through a lot and deserve a break," Al replied.

The former Digidestined and the mystic played their splashing game until the sun set….

~*~

"Get up," Al muttered, shaking each of the people awake one by one.

"Hmmm?" Sora sleepily murmured.

"It's time," Al said.His voice was tense and excited, as though he was charged."Come on, get ready."

Sora sat up and looked around.The sun was just rising, bathing the valley in tranquil sunlight.All over, the angel-soldiers were readying themselves for the oncoming battle.Paragon was hovering about a foot off the ground, eyes closed, sitting cross-legged.

"What's Paragon doing?" she heard Koushiro inquire of Al.

"He's meditating.He'll be done soon."

Sora no longer felt tired._This is it, she thought.She looked over at her friends and husband.All of them looked like she felt, tense, as if coiled and ready to spring at an instant's notice._

Al handed each of them a crossbow and a quiver of arrows that looked somewhat like Angewomon's Celestial Arrows had so long ago and explained: "these are your weapons.Don't feel guilty about hurting any of the Dark's minions.They deserve it."

Sora held the crossbow in her hands and ran her fingers over the shaft where the arrow was to be inserted.A slight shiver ran down her spine._This was a weapon.An actual weapon that was capable of killing.She would be using it in less than an hour._

She took one of the arrows in her hand and shivered again.It made her hand tingle, as it seemed to sizzle in it, like lightning contained in an arrow.Quickly, she put the arrow away and set the crossbow down before massaging her temples.For the first time, she realized exactly what she was involved in.This was a war.A real war.The silence from the others signified that they too were just now realizing the full extent of what was about to happen.

The trance-like silence was suddenly broken when Paragon laughed and said: "you guys don't know the first thing about meditating!"

"We weren't.At least we weren't trying to," Jyou replied.

"Oh.Well it sure looked like you were trying to."Paragon yawned before adding: "so, you guys ready?"

Mimi looked a little pale and faintly answered: "I don't think I'll ever be ready for this."She hadn't let go of the weapons Al had given her, but she hadn't taken a single look at them, either.Truth be told, her remark was an understatement.She felt as though she was going to be sick and had the slightest dizzy feeling.

"Aw, what's there to worry about?" Paragon laughed.

"In case you haven't noticed, Paragon, this is a war," Iori shot back."It's not fun and games.This is serious."

Paragon shrugged."But to me, that's all it is.It's just a big game.Sure, there's risk involved, but in reality, what game doesn't involve some type of risk?I mean look at the game you humans call soccer.There've been plenty of recorded injuries in that sport."

"But that's different," Taichi argued.

"How?"

"You're not _trying to kill each other when you play something like that."_

"That's never your intention.But I'm willing to bet there are plenty of documented deaths associated with every one of your sports.And there are countless injuries.I really see no difference."

"But there is a difference," Yamato exclaimed."All those cases were accidents.Nobody is supposed to be killed or hurt when you play a sport.War is not a sport.The whole point is to see who can overpower the other side.It involves death. Not accidental.Intended death.And lots of it."

Paragon sighed and muttered: "I still don't get it."

Koushiro opened his mouth to explain, but Paragon waved his hand, indicating he was through with attempting to figure out the difference between football and war.

"I'm sorry, but I'm never going to fully understand what you mean.I'm not a human and I don't understand everything about what is right and wrong for you.Really, I'm sorry.I tried to get it, but I just can't," he stated.

"Move out!" Al suddenly shouted.

"Here we go," Paragon whispered.

The beautiful valley was gone and in its place was the camp they had originally stayed at.But it looked different.Before there had been trees.Sure, they had been stunted and charred, but they were still signs of life.Now there was nothing.And the choking, life-distinguishing smoke was thicker than ever.It was scary and it had happened in the blink of an eye.

Jyou looked at his friends and saw them all very slowly loading their crossbows._They don't want to do this any more than I do, he thought as he inserted one of the arrows into the shaft._

Angel-soldiers were all around at the ready.Paragon was a few yards in front of him.Al was somewhere, though where it was impossible to see.And in front of the crew of fighters for Light was the army of demons that had taken over their camp.They were no longer in their cyclone formation.They were standing in a phalanx formation, a tight square shape.Each was holding a spear that looked like it was made from fire and ebony and they probably were and a shield, creating almost a solid wall of spikes and shield.And there were some left over after that who held some type of weapon, although Jyou didn't know exactly what it was.

He never saw who made the first move.The next thing he knew he was in the heat of a battle, angels rushing past him, demons rushing at him….The phalanx was plowing down the angels as though they were nothing.They were down before they got a shot off.Not dead, but hurt pretty badly.

Without thinking, he fired his arrow into the chaos.A demon in the phalanx shrieked and surged with energy from the arrow before slumping to the ground and disappearing.Jyou felt sick.He'd killed.His stomach lurched and he vomited at the realization that something was now dead because of him.

He caught a glance of Mimi standing as if frozen, too afraid to move.She hadn't even fired an arrow yet, though the shaft was empty.She just kept murmuring: "oh God, oh God, oh God…" over and over.

Then he caught a glance of Paragon, doing what appeared to be acrobatics in midair, but upon closer inspection he was dodging blasts from some of the demon's weapons that weren't in the phalanx.As he watched, Paragon sent a jet of silvery light at a cluster of three of the demons.They disappeared immediately.

A mark was definitely being made on the demon army.The angel-soldiers with the help of Paragon had finally destroyed the phalanx.But there were still demons left that had not been in the phalanx, firing their weapons into the midst of the Light army.These demons were diminishing.

There were only twenty left, then ten, then five.Then Paragon annihilated the last five demons and they were gone.

A cheer went up through the angel-army.Mimi's legs fell out from under her and she sat down on the ground hard, not joining in the cheer.

In fact, all of the former Digidestined looked disturbed by what had happened.They had been through a lot in the Digital World, but nothing could have prepared them for this.Not the tests to reach Quewari, not their encounter with Kitami a year ago, not their previous encounters with the Dark.Nothing.

But at the same time, they each felt a slight bit of happiness.For the moment the fighting was over.And they had won.

~*~

Hours passed.Al had teleported the former Digidestined, half his army and Paragon back to the safe valley and informed them they would make their final move after they've had time to recover.Mimi did not move from the position she had sat down and her friends were beginning to worry.She would not respond to them when they spoke.All she did was stare off into space, eyes glazed.At some point before they had returned to the valley, she had hugged her knees up to her chest and she sat, shivering, though it was not cold.

"She's in shock," Jyou said to his nine other friends and Paragon.They were all sitting in a wide circle, still getting over the effects of the war themselves."The battle was too intense.It's a wonder we're all not in shock after all we've been through."

Out of the group sitting in the circle, Paragon was the only one that didn't seem affected by the battle.In fact, if anything, he seemed to be energized by the battle.

"And did you _see how I took out half the phalanx?" he was chattering._

"Oh yeah, I saw," Hikari faintly replied, feeling a little sick at the memory.Hundreds of the demons had been taken out with only one offensive by Paragon.

Hikari still couldn't get the lingering memories of the battle out of her head.The screams of pain all around her, the cries of triumph…the feeling of inserting an arrow into the crossbow and firing it, and the emotional feeling that pulled at her when an enemy died at her hands.The way Paragon had avoided every attack thrown at him and rewarded his attackers with a harsh attack of his own, an attack that wiped them out completely.

It was then she noticed the tears that were falling from her eyes and running down her cheeks.

"Was it something I said?" Paragon muttered as he got up and left the circle.

"What's wrong, Hikari?" Koushiro inquired.

Hikari took a shuddering breath and whispered: "n-nothing.I was j-just thinking of the b-battle, that's all.Really I'm f-fine."She continued crying, much to the concern of the others.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Taichi questioned.

Hikari nodded._I really am fine, she thought.__I just can't stop crying.And the others are all going to start worrying about me if I don't quit soon._

She wiped away the tears and rubbed her eyes to prevent any more tears from falling as the others watched her.The more she tried to control her tears, the more insistent they became and she was sobbing again.

"Please tell us what's wrong," Miyako begged.

Hikari shook her head and gasped: "nothing!I c-can't h-help it!"She started hiccupping as she cried and her stomach was beginning to hurt, but still the tears would not leave.Still crying, she laid on her back in the grass, looked up to the sunset and took deep breaths to prevent the sobbing.Finally, she stopped crying, though the hiccups remained.

"Hikari, people don't cry like that when nothing's wrong," Yamato said."Can you please tell us what's the matter?"

She didn't take her gaze from the sunset as she answered: "I'm sorry if I worried any of you.I just started thinking about the battle and--and--" she trailed off as she felt the tears returning.

Paragon suddenly walked by them, towards the forest.

"Hey, where are you going?" Takeru inquired.

The mystic said the two words that everybody dreaded to hear: "I quit."

This was the last straw for Yamato._Where does he get the idea he can quit in the middle of the war? He thought.__He knows we need him and he does this!I knew he was dangerous from the beginning and I'm going to give that moron a piece of my mind right now!_

_ _

_"You can't quit!" Yamato shouted._

"I can and I am," Paragon hotly retorted.

"What about the Atlantean Vow?" Daisuke demanded."I thought you promised to stick by our side!"

Paragon shook his head and answered: "I said I would be on your side permanently.I never said I would fight the whole time."

"You think you can just quit right in the middle of a war?Things don't work that way!" Yamato yelled.His body felt hot and he faintly heard somebody say: "settle down, Yamato.Mimi can hear you and she doesn't need to be hearing something like this right now."

He was too angry to be sure who had said it, but he retaliated with: "no I will _not calm down!This jerk knows we need him on our side!He knows how bad we need him to end this war and he just decides he's __bored so he's going to __quit!No…he's going to go and join the Dark's side now, I bet."_

Paragon stiffly said: "I assure you I keep my vows.As I stated before, I'm not breaking any of them by leaving as long as I do not join with the Dark."

"Well I say you're full of bull," Yamato hissed, now too angry to care what the consequences of his actions would be.

"Oh really?I don't have to take this," Paragon replied as he turned and began walking toward the trees.

"That's right, go!" Yamato shouted."Go and leave your vows behind!"

Paragon teleported away.

There was a moment of shocked silence, then Taichi stepped forward and said: "nice going, Yamato.You just threw out our only hope at winning this war."

"We can do it without him."

"No, we can't.You saw what happened before."

"He thinks war is a _game, Taichi!And I say he's being a selfish jerk!"_

"Well if you hadn't blown up on him, maybe he would still be here, Yamato!"

Yamato almost laughed out loud at this remark and replied: "that's right.Blame it all on me!It's all my fault that Paragon's not here anymore.And what else is my fault?Is it my fault this war started?Is it my fault Paragon's a self-absorbed jerk?"

Taichi smiled grimly and answered: "well then I guess you don't need me to win this war, either, do you?" before walking away into the forest.

Sora turned to Yamato, very angry.She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing would come out.After a moment, she threw up her hands and ran after her husband shouting: "Taichi, wait!Come back!"She too was soon out of sight in the trees.

Choking sobs were heard and for a moment everybody thought that Hikari had started crying again, but it wasn't coming from Hikari.It was coming from Mimi.Mimi had gotten to her feet and was running away from the group crying.

Jyou and Koushiro ran after her and the three were soon gone in the trees as well.

Hikari pushed past Yamato and made her way to the trees.

"Where are you going?" Yamato demanded.

"To look for Paragon," Hikari coolly said.

"And I'm going with her," Daisuke said, walking to her side.

Yamato was shocked when Takeru joined them."I'm going, too," was all his brother would say.They were soon lost in the trees also.

Now only Miyako and Iori remained besides Yamato and they, too were heading for the trees.

"Where are you guys going?" Yamato asked, voice a little gentler.

"To look for Taichi and Sora," Iori replied.They walked off into the trees also, leaving Yamato alone.

Yamato stood in silence, reality seeping into him._All of his friends were gone.He very slowly sat down on the ground and miserably thought: __what have I done?What have I done?_


	3. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.Don't sue me.Thanks.

War to End All Wars--3

Yamato wasn't sure how long he sat there, face buried in his hands.After maybe a couple of hours, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.

_Storm's coming, he thought.He didn't bother to move.Not even when the tropical rain came, pelting him with raindrops that were so big and came so quickly they hurt._

_Figures, this is the first rain that's been in the valley and it happens when I feel awful, he pondered._

He'd been sitting in the storm for almost a half hour when Al came across him.By this time, he was thoroughly drenched and his teeth were chattering, but he didn't care anymore.In fact, he hoped he'd catch his death of cold so the world wouldn't have to bother with him anymore.

"Come on, you'd better get out of the rain," Al said.

Yamato could do little more than shake his head.

That was when Al noticed the others were missing.

"Hey, what happened to your friends?Where's Paragon?What's going on?What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Yamato muttered.

Al sighed and replied: "look, if you know what happened, you'd best tell me."

"I--I--They left." 

Al was definitely taken aback by this."They _left?Why?"_

"It's my fault," Yamato explained, his voice getting shrill."I got mad at Paragon and yelled at him because he wanted to leave.I made him mad and so he left."He paused before continuing: "everyone else was upset enough by that, but I yelled at them, too.So they left."

Now Al was downright shocked."What did you _say?"_

"I didn't think it would drive them all away like that, I really didn't.I just got so angry and I couldn't control myself and now they're all gone and it's all my fault. I don't even know exactly how it happened, it all went so fast…" 

"Look, kid, we'll try our best to find them," Al said.

Yamato almost laughed.He'd never been called "kid" in all his life and here he was, 22 years old and being called "kid."But the solemnity of the situation prevented the laughter.He just nodded.

"I'm sorry.I'm so sorry," Yamato apologized."I really didn't mean to do it."

But Al was already walking away.The rain was still pounding down….

~*~

Although Miyako and Iori didn't found Taichi and Sora, they did find Koushiro, Jyou and Mimi after two days of searching.Together, they set out to find the others.

Mimi was no longer in shock, although she still wasn't her usual carefree self, either.Still, it was a relief to see her on her feet and smiling again when they found them.

  
The five former Digidestined searched and searched, but after three days they found no trace of any of their other friends.They decided to just head back to camp after another fruitless day of searching.

"I wonder where they all went," Mimi pondered."I hope Paragon isn't too mad to come back."

"Who knows where they could be?" Jyou answered."For all we know they've all gone back to camp and we're for searching them for no reason at all.Maybe that's what we should do…head back to camp, I mean."

One by one, the other four members of the group agreed.

A familiar voice came through the trees: "Hikari, I don't think we'll ever find Paragon.We had a hard enough time before.Besides, he probably doesn't want to be found anyway."

"Hikari?" Koushiro repeated."Then that must mean…Hikari!Takeru!Daisuke!Can you hear me?"

A pause.Then: "Koushiro?" came Hikari's voice.

"Yes," Koushiro confirmed.

"And me, too!" Mimi added."And Jyou, Miyako and Iori!"

Hikari, Daisuke and Takeru came into view and Daisuke said: "you two left, too?" meaning Miyako and Iori.

"We left right after you did," Miyako explained.

"Yeah, we were going to look for Taichi and Sora, but we never found them," Iori chimed in.

"We were just heading back to camp," Jyou added."Do you want to come with us?"

"Sure," Takeru answered.

The eight former Digidestined walked on toward the camp….

~*~

And during all this, where were Taichi and Sora?They spent the first couple of days walking around the valley, going anywhere except back to camp.At one point, Miyako and Iori had almost found them, but they had no desire to return to the camp, so they hid.They both agreed they would return to camp when they were ready to do so.

But now they were lost, wandering aimlessly through the valley.Although neither of them was willing to say it aloud, both realized the fact that they had no idea how to return camp, even when they wanted to.

Eventually, the lush vegetation of the valley began to diminish.At first it was the color of the dense foliage that changed.It was no longer the rich, healthy green color it had been back at the camp.Then the dense foliage wasn't so dense anymore.In fact, in a quarter mile's distance, the canopy of vibrant green leaves that had wafted above their heads was nonexistent.Not only did the foliage disappear, the trees did as well.

"Taichi, maybe we should go back.Something about this doesn't feel right," Sora said as she noticed the absence of the trees.

Taichi did not answer and the two continued on in the direction they were going.The grass was no longer green anymore.It was steadily becoming dry.And no longer was it like a carpet, stretching as far as the eye could see.It was thinning out.Soon, the grass was only appearing in small patches and not long after that, the grass disappeared completely.

Smoke was beginning to waft lazily through the air, tendrils of it curling around their ankles and coiling in the air like snakes.But still they continued on.

The smoke was now becoming so thick it was difficult to breathe without coughing.Twice Sora had to stop because she was hacking so violently.It was also getting hard to see through the fog of smoke.Taichi was only a few feet away from Sora and yet she could barely see him.She heard him begin to cough and again suggested: "let's go back.We can't be in the valley anymore."

Taichi shook his head, although it was very hard for Sora to see him do so and he whispered: "quiet."

Sora furrowed her brow and replied: "Taichi, stop it.You're being ridiculous.Let's just go back, please."

"_Quiet," he hissed back."Look."He pointed in front of them, ever so slightly to the left._

Sora looked in the direction Taichi was pointing, but could see nothing more than more of the smoke.

"I don't see anything," she whispered.

"Keep looking," Taichi instructed.

Sora squinted into the smoke and gasped, which caused her to choke on the smoke.She immediately smothered her oncoming coughs, terrified to make a sound.By unbelievable misfortune, they had managed to stumble onto the Dark army's camp.

Sora took Taichi's hand and tried to pull him away from the camp, back toward the valley, but he wouldn't move.

"Taichi, please," Sora breathed."_Please."_

"Sora, just be quiet.It'll be fine."

As they watched, one of the demons croaked: "so you all know the plan?"He was big and strong looking and obviously the leader of the group.

"Yes, Dark, sir," came the reply of millions of demons that were clustered around.

Sora turned to Taichi and mouthed: _that's the Dark?_

Taichi shrugged and jerked his head toward the meeting.

"So what are we going to do?" the Dark demanded.

"Attack!" was the roaring reply.

"And when do we do it?"

"Tonight!"

"That's right," the Dark crowed."Tonight those angels get the shock of their lives!"

Sora again pulled at Taichi's hand, trying to move him in the direction of the valley.He stayed as though rooted into the ground.

"_Taichi," she whispered._

Taichi replied: "_quiet."_

Sora pulled on Taichi's hand again, but this time she slipped.In her surprise, she let go of her husband's hand and ended up knocking her head on the ground.

"Ow!" she yelled.Then she gasped and put her hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

"What was that?" the Dark's voice came to them."Somebody go and check it out."

Taichi pulled Sora to her feet and they both ran.

"I'm sorry," Sora whispered."I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Shh!"

They could hear the demon coming after them.But they were also running back into the valley, where it was safe from demons.

"Just a little farther," Taichi panted.

And then they were back under the canopy of leaves and trees, the springy grass back under their feet.Relief was short lived for them when the demon easily entered the valley after them.

"I thought Al said demons couldn't survive here," Sora panted as they ran.

"Well apparently he was wrong!" Taichi shouted back.

Suddenly, Taichi pushed Sora off the path and behind one of the trees, out of sight of the demon before diving off the path after her.

Seconds later, they heard the demon run by.It stopped, confused.What had happened to the humans he was chasing?Slowly, it turned and walked back down the path, passing by their hiding place.

Taichi very slowly peeked out from behind the tree.The demon's back was turned to them.He very slowly took a step from behind the tree.The demon grunted and began to turn back toward him.

Quickly, he ducked back behind the tree to avoid being seen.After another minute of looking around, they heard the demon begin to crash through the forest on the other side of the path.

"Come on," Taichi muttered, running out from behind the tree.Sora followed.

The two began running for the center of the valley, as this was where the camp was located.After two minutes of running, Taichi heard Sora scream.He turned around and saw that the demon had hold of Sora's arm.

"Let her go!" he shouted, pushing the demon away.

Sora winced as the demon's claws made raking scrapes down her arm but was glad to get away.

They continued to run until they reached a river.It was moving quickly, making the waters churn and froth.

"I don't remember seeing a river," Sora said.

Taichi looked back over his shoulder.The demon was coming up on them fast and the river was wide.Too wide to jump across.There was nowhere else to go but into the water.

"Jump!" he shouted.

They both jumped into the water, hoping they weren't making their predicament worse than it already was as the demon reached the riverside.

The current was strong, and it pulled them away from the shore, out into the middle of the viciously swirling waters in the middle of the river.

Taichi felt Sora's hand slip into his as the water tried to tear them away from each other.The mini-whirlpools in the middle of the waters were sucking at them and they swam away from them as best they could.

A splash from behind signaled the demon had jumped into the water after them.As they were trying to ride the current away, Sora suddenly screamed: _"Taichi!" and disappeared from sight under the raging waters._

"Sora!" Taichi shouted, trying to swim back against the current.He couldn't even see if the demon was nearby, or if it was even there anymore.After taking a deep breath, he dove under the treacherous surface of the water and tried to find Sora.But the water was kicking up silt from the bottom of the river and clouding the water, making his eyes sting and making it literally impossible to find Sora.

He clamped his eyes shut and felt through the murky water for Sora, hoping that maybe he would get lucky and find her.Then his lungs started burning.Somehow, he managed to resurface and take another deep breath before diving under again and feeling through the water.

This time his hand met her wrist and he kicked back up to the surface.His eyes were burning from all the mud and sand that had gotten into them early and he could barely keep them open as he feverishly kicked for the muddy bank.

Then his feet were met with the bottom of the river.It was muddy and slippery, but it was the bottom of the river.Somehow, he managed to drag himself and Sora out of the malicious river and onto the bank before collapsing, exhausted.

_My eyes hurt, he thought, wishing he were back at the lake so he could rinse the debris out.He knew he wouldn't be able to use the water in the river, as it was the whole reason his eyes hurt to begin with.He brought his fingers up to his eyes, wanting badly to rub the pain away and noticed tears were streaming from his eyes.They were washing the debris out by themselves, luckily.___

Sora coughed and spit the water that had collected in her mouth out.She sat up quickly, eyes wide and shrieked: "Taichi, watch out!"

But she was too late.The demon grabbed Taichi's ankle and dragged him back into the river.Sora grabbed for his hand, caught it and ended up in the water again.

Desperately, she kicked the demon as hard as she could.She saw it let go of Taichi's ankle and the two of them pushed forward, riding the current and this time being careful to stay out of the middle.

The demon climbed out of the water grumbling and walked away….

~*~

Daisuke sat by the water's edge, thinking about everything that had happened up to this point.After meeting with Mimi, Jyou, Miyako, Iori and Koushiro, they had all gone back to camp.Yamato had been very happy to see them and apologized for the way he acted first thing.But when they asked if Taichi or Sora had returned, he sighed and shook his head.

_I wonder where they could be? _Daisuke thought, looking as far off into the distance as his eyes would permit.He could just see the edge of the lake where the sky met the ground and a rippling caught his eyes.

_I never noticed that before, _he pondered.A river emptied into the pond and flowed back out in a V shape, the point of the V being the pond.

_Wait a second.Is that a person out there?_He squinted and determined it was, indeed, a person.In fact, there were _two _people.

"Al!" he shouted."Come here, quick!"

The head angel raced over to Daisuke."What is it?"

"Somebody's out there," Daisuke told him.

Al looked up and scanned the horizon."I see them," he confirmed."I'll teleport them here."

Daisuke watched as the two people disappeared from near the river and appeared in front of them.

"Taichi!Sora!What happened?" he shouted.

His two friends were muddy, wet, bleeding and overall bedraggled.The other eight former Digidestined ran over upon hearing Daisuke's shouts and listened as Taichi and Sora told of how they had wandered through the valley, gotten lost, spied on the Dark, been chased by a demon and ended up where they were now.

"Demons?In the valley?" Al repeated once they had finished."That's impossible!"

"You've got to believe us!They're coming!Tonight!" Sora insisted.

Al shook his head and answered: "but demon's can't survive here.Don't you remember what I told you?"

"Well all I know is that they're planning to attack us tonight," Taichi replied.

The head angel shook his head again and walked away.

"You've got to believe us!" Sora shouted after him."We were chased back here by one!"

"But how could they do it?" Koushiro inquired of his two friends."You heard what Al said.It's impossible for them to survive."

"I don't know how they're going to pull it off," Taichi admitted."But they're going to attack us tonight."

"Of course!" Yamato muttered."It makes sense!"

"What?" Iori queried.

"If the angels don't expect them to attack they're going to have a huge advantage.Remember when they drove us out of the first camp?They won because they surprised us.And if they _can _live here, the angels are going to be shocked," Yamato explained."In short, we're toast unless somebody believes us."

"But how are they going to do it?Where are they going to come from?" Koushiro wondered.

"I don't know!We've told you everything we heard," Sora said."We didn't stay long enough to hear that because a demon started chasing us."

Jyou looked up to the sun and sighed."Well, if you guys are right, we'll find out in a couple of minutes.The sun's almost down."

The eleven former Digidestined watched in despair as the sun slowly sank beneath the horizon, bathing the valley in velvety darkness.

Hikari instinctively reached for the feather charm that Corina had given her.Like when she had held it at her first time seeing the camp, it seemed to make her fingers tingle.She took the small charm out of her pocket and held it in the palm of her hand, looking at it intently.

Something was definitely odd about the charm and Hikari couldn't quite place it.At least she couldn't place it until Mimi said: "oh, Hikari!That's so beautiful!"

That was when realization hit.The feather was glowing, giving off rays of light that glittered through the night air.The light was causing the amethyst to sparkle dazzlingly.

All eleven of the former Digidestined watched the feather in awe until the ground started to shake violently.In the earthquake, Hikari was knocked off her feet.The feather flew out of her hand and into the mud near the bank of the lake and then into the water, causing the lights to be extinguished.

_Oh no!I lost it!_ Hikari thought.

Her thoughts were turned from the loss of Corina's good luck charm when something rose out of the lake.A _lot _of somethings.They were demons.They kept coming out of the lake, faster and faster, more and more.There had to be at least a million of them.And then the Dark himself emerged.He was holding the feather.

Smoke began to fill the clearing around the lake, causing everybody to cough and choke.

"All groups, full defensive this instant!" Al shouted through the smog.

Koushiro couldn't even see anything through the thick fog of smoke.But he sure felt it when a demon slashed him with claw-like fingernails down his back.He cried out in surprise and came face to face with the demon.It smiled at him, baring ugly, yellowed fangs and laughed.

Koushiro was scared.No, he was more than scared, he was terrified.Here he was face to face with the enemy with no way to defend himself.

_Wait a minute, _he thought.He remembered back to when Al had first spoken to them about the war.One sentence in particular stood out in his head: _"And I know that all of you are capable of defeating at least one demon apiece by yourselves…." _

_Maybe…._ He thought.

The demon was raising his arm, ready to lash out again.This time, Koushiro caught its arm.Quite unexpectedly, the demon screamed in agony and glowed with a white light before evaporating into the air….

One by one, the former Digidestined's discovered their ability.It wasn't nearly as terrifying now that they had a way to protect themselves.

But there was no way they would ever be able to win over the huge army.The Dark was going to defeat them with sheer numbers.

All around the screams of angels could be heard, echoing through the impenetrable darkness.After fifteen minutes and twenty demons, Jyou was attacked by yet another demon.But this time it did not evaporate on touch.And this didn't happen to only Jyou.It happened to all of them.

Yamato was trying to defend himself from an attack of a demon as it slashed at his face.He ducked and barely missed being decapitated.

A menacing voice suddenly cut through the chaos: "so, you are the humans the rumors spoke of."The Dark came into view and the demon backed away from Yamato."Not all that impressive if you ask me."

Yamato noticed the feather was still faintly glowing in the Dark's hand.

_If I surprise him…._Yamato thought.He lashed out and grabbed the feather from the Dark.It immediately began glowing brighter than day.The Dark screamed and backed away and for a moment the smoke was gone.

But the light was so hot it felt as though it was burning through his hand.With a yelp of surprise and pain, Yamato threw the glowing feather into the air.Miyako caught it and a demon attempted to snatch it away from her, only to evaporate.

But it soon burned her as well and she let go of it.Takeru picked it up and then Mimi, Sora, Taichi, Jyou, Koushiro, Iori, Daisuke and finally Hikari.

When Hikari touched the feather, it was already glowing blindingly.But when her fingers brushed against it, the light shot out in a glittering, silver jet and smashed into the Dark.The Dark screamed and fell to the ground.

A cheer went up through the throngs of angels and eleven humans and for one brief instant they thought it was over.

Then the Dark got up and he was smiling."Did you think your little trinket could harm me?"With that, he pointed to the no longer glowing feather and it floated through the air and into his hand."This stupid little charm is no match for me."

"No, but maybe _I _am!" a familiar voice cried.

"Paragon!" the eleven former Digidestined's cried.

"You'd better believe it!" the mystic replied, floating out of his hiding place in the trees.

"Why'd you come back after the way I yelled?" Yamato questioned.

"I figured you'd need my help.Plus, I missed all of you," Paragon answered."Now lets kick some Dark rear!"

The feather glowed again in the Dark's hand and he dropped it.From its position on the ground, its rays fanned out until the entire clearing was covered in glittering rays of light.The angel army, now re-energized got up and began easily defeating the army of demons.

Paragon smiled at the Dark, raised a single finger and pointed it at the evil force.A jet of pure white issued from his finger and hit the Dark.

Demons all over the clearing screamed as they felt their master's pain and disappeared, leaving the Dark writhing in agony.

After a final scream, the Dark was gone.

"We…won?" Iori said, barely able to believe the fact.

"We won!" Mimi shouted.

Al was smiling the biggest smile any of the former Digidestined had ever seen when he said: "now we can go back to Quewari!"

The army of angels cheered and began teleporting away.Seconds later, Al was the only angel left.

"Thank you, Paragon," he said."You coming back to Quewari with us?"

The mystic shook his head."No, I've got a lot I have to do here," he replied.

"Will we ever see you again?" Hikari inquired of him.

He smiled and answered: "you bet!"

"You sure you don't want to come?There's going to be one heck of a celebration," Al replied.

The mystic slyly narrowed his eyes and said: "did you say party?"

Al nodded.

"Well why didn't you say so!Watch out Quewari!Here comes Paragon!"

Paragon teleported away.

"Hey, kids.You did good," Al congratulated.

"Thanks," Takeru replied.

"I'd say you did pretty good yourself," Iori replied.

"Naw.Without Paragon we'd've lost for sure," Al answered."We'd better get back to Quewari.The party of the century is going on there, no doubt and I know you wouldn't want to miss that.Ready to go?"

"Almost," Hikari replied.

Daisuke held up the feather that the Dark had dropped and said: "lose something?"

Hikari smiled and Daisuke handed the feather back to her and she said: "OK.Now I'm ready."

Al and the eleven former Digidestined teleported out of the valley and to the biggest party that will ever occur.

THE END.

(A/N:Whoa.I cannot believe how long this turned out.If you've read this far, I thank you so much!Please write a review.After 30 pages of typing I _need_ reviews!Merry Christmas!Yet another new fic by me coming soon.)


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